New York City-based Instagram account @subwayhands captures New Yorkers through their grips, grasps, and clasps on the train.
New York City-based artist Hannah La Follette Ryan began photographing the hands of commuters when she moved to the city in 2014, and her unconventional portraiture quickly amassed a cult following on Instagram @subwayhands.
Gripping, clasping, holding, playing, fondling, or fumbling, the hands of New Yorkers reveal things—tenderness, impatience, anxiety, or intrigue—that their poker faces conceal.
Construction, 6 train.
![folded hands with a tattoo reading "Jade"](https://heremag-prod-app-deps-s3heremagassets-bfie27mzpk03.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/03100723/subwayhands_nyc_new-york-issue11-6-960x1200.jpg)
Thursday, November 15, J train.
![hand holding a newspaper against a subway rail](https://heremag-prod-app-deps-s3heremagassets-bfie27mzpk03.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/03100718/subwayhands_nyc_new-york-issue11-5-1200x1200.jpg)
Anxious texting, F train.
![person texting and biting their nails](https://heremag-prod-app-deps-s3heremagassets-bfie27mzpk03.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/03100713/subwayhands_nyc_new-york-issue11-4-960x1200.jpg)
Downtown, E train.
![hands with long decorative nails grasping a purse](https://heremag-prod-app-deps-s3heremagassets-bfie27mzpk03.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/03100741/subwayhands_nyc_new-york-issue11-9-960x1200.jpg)
Fleet Week, C train.
![person in a button up with crossed hands](https://heremag-prod-app-deps-s3heremagassets-bfie27mzpk03.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/03100753/subwayhands_nyc_new-york-issue11-11-1028x1200.jpg)
Summer, 4 train.
![hand pressed oddly against a subway rail](https://heremag-prod-app-deps-s3heremagassets-bfie27mzpk03.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/03101132/subwayhands_nyc_new-york-issue11-13-960x1200.jpg)
9 a.m., L train.
![hands balancing a banana, phone, coffee, and egg](https://heremag-prod-app-deps-s3heremagassets-bfie27mzpk03.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/03100730/subwayhands_nyc_new-york-issue11-7-960x1200.jpg)
Like Mike, C train
![two people with their arms interlocked](https://heremag-prod-app-deps-s3heremagassets-bfie27mzpk03.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/03100701/subwayhands_nyc_new-york-issue11-2-1200x1200.jpg)
No context, 4 train.
![hands holding a large crumpled wad of paper](https://heremag-prod-app-deps-s3heremagassets-bfie27mzpk03.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/03100747/subwayhands_nyc_new-york-issue11-10-960x1200.jpg)
Handsome man, L train.
![hands bending a paperback book](https://heremag-prod-app-deps-s3heremagassets-bfie27mzpk03.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/03100656/subwayhands_nyc_new-york-issue11-1-960x1200.jpg)
June 2018, 2 train.
![a person's hand holding a book against their chest](https://heremag-prod-app-deps-s3heremagassets-bfie27mzpk03.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/03100707/subwayhands_nyc_new-york-issue11-3-1200x1200.jpg)
Mother and son, 1 train.
![a child's hand grasping their mother's jeweled hand](https://heremag-prod-app-deps-s3heremagassets-bfie27mzpk03.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/03100734/subwayhands_nyc_new-york-issue11-8-1200x1200.jpg)